Chapter 574: All-Out Engagement

"Hahaha, that suits my intentions perfectly. General Qin, the defense of Ning City is left to you; this subordinate will lead the troops out of the city now." Guan Tong cupped his hands.

Qin Shan nodded.

The Northern Di armies to the south and west were both turning to face the Prince's Personal Army reinforcements coming from Yanguan.

Therefore, the Nan Cheng Wall and West City Wall did not need many soldiers to defend them at all.

Leaving only a few thousand men to garrison each wall was sufficient; the remaining soldiers could fully take the initiative to sally forth and coordinate with the reinforcements to defeat the Northern Di army in the south.

As for the Northern Di army to the north, he would keep an eye on their movements.

Once they decided to besiege the reinforcements just like the Northern Di army in the south, he would again pull a portion of the soldiers out of the city to assist in the battle.

Guan Tong descended the city wall and immediately summoned his officers to issue the order for the sortie.

In less than half an hour, twenty thousand soldiers had assembled at the Nan Cheng Gate.

Under the leadership of their officers, they marched out in an orderly fashion.

Upon reaching the outside of the gate, they skillfully formed into Hollow Square Formations.

At the Military Academy, Yan Wang often brought up this formation.

He reminded them that if they encountered a large number of enemy cavalry in the field, they could set up this formation to respond.

In terms of restraining cavalry, this square formation was extremely effective.

Now that the soldiers were equipped with Rifled Muskets, this type of formation would be even more efficient at dealing with cavalry.

Even the Chariot Formation was merely a variation of the Hollow Square Formation.

It was just that the Chariot Formation used chariots as shields, allowing the soldiers to receive better protection during battle and reduce casualties.

Whereas they could only use their own bodies as shields.

In the span of a quarter of an hour, the twenty thousand soldiers had rapidly formed ten Hollow Square Formations.

These ten Hollow Square Formations were arranged in a staggered, orderly fashion, divided into three rows.

The first row had four Hollow Square Formations, the second row had two, and the third row also had four.

Due to the unique nature of the Hollow Square Formation, the soldiers could fire at enemies from any direction.

Therefore, the first row and the third row could change their front and rear positions based on the direction of the enemy's attack.

If there were enemies in front of the first row, the first row would be the main attacking force.

If the enemy circled around to attack from the rear, the third row would be the main attacking force.

The two rows in the middle could be deployed at any time according to the battlefield situation.

As soon as the twenty thousand soldiers left the city, the Northern Di army in the south noticed them.

Nearly fifty thousand troops split off from the Northern Di army and slowly approached them, among whom were Northern Di cavalry.

Guan Tong was positioned in the center of the Hollow Square Formation on the left side of the third row.

Looking at the Northern Di soldiers rushing toward them, a cold sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.

His goal was to pin down a portion of the Northern Di army.

Now, the effect had been achieved.

As for the fifty thousand Northern Di troops coming over, he did not take them seriously at all.

During this period, they had held the city walls firmly, which was to utilize the Prince's Personal Army's advantage in firearms to consume the Northern Di troops as much as possible,

and to reduce the casualties of their own soldiers.

It was not because they feared the Northern Di and dared not fight them head-on.

In his view, even if he and Qin Shan were to fight the Northern Di in the field with these sixty thousand men, they could still wipe out more than half of their troops.

Therefore, the fifty thousand men sent by the Northern Di army in the south were not in his eyes at all.

The Hollow Square Formation could easily defeat them.

Especially while defending the city, they discovered that the Northern Di army in the south clearly had lower morale than the Northern Di army in the north.

This was partly because the Northern Di army in the south included some Xiliang people.

But in his view, it was more because they had already been beaten out of their courage during the Battle of Yanguan.

When besieging Ning City, they had not gained any advantage and had also suffered heavy losses.

Just as he was thinking this, suddenly, a massive roaring sound erupted from the artillery in the south, interspersed with the firing sounds of Rifled Muskets.

Clearly, the Yanguan reinforcements and the Northern Di army were already engaged in battle.

Just as Guan Tong had expected.

At this moment, circular Chariot Formations stopped at a position five miles outside of Ning City.

The Northern Di soldiers raised their Curved Blades, shouting "Anda" repeatedly as they charged toward the Chariot Formations.

Facing the charge of the Northern Di infantry, the artillerymen within the Chariot Formations immediately pulled their Artillery to the gaps between the War Chariots, loaded them with Grape Shot, and bombarded the Northern Di soldiers.

The Grape Shot, wrapped in over thirty iron balls, flew out from the muzzles, and the burlap on the outside tore apart.

The iron balls turned into a rain of bullets, flying toward the charging Northern Di soldiers.

"Puchi, puchi!" A series of sounds of flesh being pierced rang out.

The Northern Di soldiers charging in the front fell one after another.

At the same time, Mortars continuously launched Shrapnel Shells and Lime Bombs toward the heads of the Northern Di soldiers.

Under the bombardment of the Artillery and Mortars, the Northern Di soldiers suffered casualties in droves.

The Lime Bombs, in particular, blinded the Northern Di soldiers, causing the charging ranks to fall into chaos.

Like headless flies, the Northern Di soldiers kept colliding with other charging soldiers.

And when these soldiers charged within two hundred meters, the musketeers pulled the Triggers.

Dense Bullets swept through the air like a swarm of locusts.

A large number of Northern Di soldiers fell into pools of blood.

"Sigh! If we keep fighting like this, we will all be wiped out."

Within the Northern Di army formation, Gule stomped his foot heavily.

Two Xiliang Royal Tents, two hundred thousand troops.

First they attacked Yanguan, then they assaulted Ning City; after these two rounds, the two Royal Tents combined have fewer than sixty thousand troops left.

Although the casualties among the soldiers under Gurtu and Khorchin were also heavy, they were each still able to retain half of their forces.

Wuyan's eyes were bloodshot; these Xiliang Royal Tent soldiers were all true Xiliang men, without even any bastards mixed with the Song People.

Now, they were just being slaughtered like livestock.

He actually sensed it.

Fighting against Yan Wang's troops is not called fighting; it is courting death.

How can Xiliang soldiers holding swords and blades fight against Yan Wang's soldiers who possess muskets and Artillery?

Most importantly, these soldiers of Yan Wang are, every single one of them, damn strong and powerful.

Even in close-quarters combat, their soldiers cannot gain any advantage.

Furthermore, during these five or six days of siege warfare, their remaining Artillery were all destroyed in the exchange of fire with Yan Wang's Artillerymen.

They are effectively without any firearms and can only risk their lives to fight.

If it were only the troops inside Ning City, that would be one thing.

They have more men—they could trade lives for results.

But now another fifty thousand of Yan Wang's troops have arrived, and they seem even better equipped with firearms than the Yan Wang troops inside the city; how are they supposed to fight!

"Even if we are wiped out, we must fight; we are the Dare-to-Die Royal Tent, we can die, but we cannot retreat. The Khan entrusted this reinforcement force to us, and we must hold them back!" Gurtu roared angrily.

He is in an even worse state of mind than Gule right now.

Only the Black Iron Royal Tent had witnessed Yan Wang's troops' Chariot Formation.

After the Black Iron Royal Tent was soundly defeated, he had even mocked the Black Iron Royal Tent for being useless.

But having seen the Chariot Formation with his own eyes, he realized how troublesome it was.

The Cavalry sent out to harass the Chariot Formation had absolutely no way to deal with these War Chariots.

Beyond two hundred meters, they could not threaten the War Chariots at all.

Once they entered within two hundred meters, they would be subjected to the musket fire of Yan Wang's soldiers.

Even if they managed to charge to the front of the Chariot Formation, their Warhorses would be blocked by the War Chariots.

The Cavalry simply could not harm the soldiers inside the Chariot Formation.

He was feeling agitated and distracted when he suddenly saw the soldiers who had been charging begin to scatter.

A large number of soldiers fled back; among them were not only Xiliang soldiers but also Northern Di soldiers.

Seeing this, Gurtu's heart sank.